All posts tagged Transparent

LOS ANGELES – “Birdman” flew to the front of the Oscar pack on Saturday, with director Alejandro González Iñárritu winning the top prize from the Director’s Guild of America, the movie’s third major guild award in recent weeks.

Mr. Iñárritu’s victory – which follows “Birdman” wins at the Screen Actors Guild and Producers Guild of America awards – ruffles the feathers of what had been perceived to be a surefire Oscar win for “Boyhood,” a movie about a boy’s adolescence filmed over 12 years. The competition for best picture and best director seems to be now between the two films in the final days of the race. Academy Award voting closes on Feb. 17 before the ceremony on Feb. 22, and guild winners are traditionally a good indication of who will take home the Oscar. Read More »

The 72nd annual Golden Globes Awards is in the books and overall, the show was a rather tame affair. It did what any good award show is supposed to do: Give out trophies, showoff star’s public speaking abilities, and set the path for future awards that may be bestowed upon these film and TV makers. Despite its straightforwardness, there were several memorable moments that had us laughing, choking up, and applauding the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for getting it right. Click through for the 10 best. Read More »

The 72nd annual Golden Globe Awards are under way at the Beverly Hills Hilton in Los Angeles. Tina Fey and Amy Poehlerdelivered a hilarious opening monologue. Amazon got their first-ever win with their series “Transparent.” And Gina Rodriguez made a splash with her win for freshman comedy “Jane the Virgin.” Here’s a list of the complete winners in bold, updated throughout the night. Read More »

The 72nd annual Golden Globe Awards gets under way tonight at 8 p.m. at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler hosting for the third consecutive year. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association will dole out 21 awards over the course of three hours (or more). Many of the categories present very interesting match ups, with great performances, movies and TV being honored. Click through for five things to watch for tonight. Read More »

If there was an award for “most symbolism” among Thursday’s Golden Globes nominees, it would have to go to the TV series “Transparent” and its star, Jeffrey Tambor, both nominated in the comedy/musical category.

The nod from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association is significant because the show breaks ground, telling the story of a transgender character: Tambor’s Maura Pfefferman, known through most of her life as Mort. Also, the nomination officially anoints “Transparent” as the first breakout TV series for Amazon, which produced and distributed the show.

“It feels like it could be a nice little revolutionary moment,” says “Transparent” creator and executive producer Jill Soloway. She was calling from “a little staycation writers’ retreat” at a geodesic dome house in Los Angeles, where she and her staff were brainstorming for season two. Read More »

Among the television nominees for the 72nd Golden Globe Awards, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association again proved its penchant for the hot, new thing–including a first-year series led by 70-year-old Jeffrey Tambor.

For his role in “Transparent,” the Hollywood veteran was nominated for best actor in a comedy series, his first Golden Globe nomination. The Amazon Studios series, about a transgender father of three, was also nominated for best comedy, marking the first major award nomination for the streaming service.

That sets up a direct battle between television’s new guard: Amazon will go head-to-head in the comedy category against Netflix, which was nominated for its prison ensemble “Orange Is the New Black.” Last year, “Orange” competed as a drama. Read More »

As crazy as it sounds, we’re closer to the start of winter than we are to the first day of fall (which was just yesterday, right?). So what better time to take a look at what new television shows ranked highest on Metacritic, a site that compiles reviews by critics, from the fall season? One caveat: Don’t expect to see things like broadcast network sitcoms on this list. If anything, the critics are illustrating the direction popular television shows are going in – meaning many of these choices are not only cable and instant-streaming programs, but they are also in the form of miniseries, TV movies and documentaries, as opposed to your typical 12-to-22-episode series. Check out the list of highest-rated shows on Metacritic from the fall. Read More »

Finales are a tricky thing for “Manhattan.” The cable drama is about the development of the atomic bomb in Los Alamos, N.M., after all, and is building toward the most destructive act in human history.

For fans of the show, there has also been reason for wariness. Despite largely positive reviews, “Manhattan” has struggled in the ratings, drawing an average of 1.2 million viewers (including DVR viewings up to seven days after episodes air). It has also had a hard time claiming its share of buzz at a time when the zeitgeist is packed with prestige cable and Internet shows, from “Fargo” to “Outlanders” to “Orange is the New Black” and “Transparent.”

Looking to build excitement ahead of the season finale that airs this Sunday, creator Sam Shaw and director Thomas Schlamme talked with Speakeasy about the season so far and where it may be going. This interview took place before WGN announced it has renewed “Manhattan.”

Click through for the interview and a video clip from the show. Read More »

Last week, Amazon unveiled “Transparent,” a buzzy half-hour pilot from television producer Jill Soloway, a veteran of such cable series as “Six Feet Under,” “How to Make it In America,” “The United States of Tara” and the writer/director of the feature “Afternoon Delight,” a Sundance favorite.

“Transparent,” which can be viewed here concerns the self-involved adult children (played by Gaby Hoffman, Jay Dualass and Amy Landecker) of a patriarch, played by Jeffrey Tambor, who has—spoiler alert—begun to experiment with living as a woman.

If feedback at its site winds up being especially positive, Amazon will produce a first season of nine episodes of the show. Ms. Soloway, who lives in Los Angeles, has been drumming up on-line chatter in the hopes of ensuring that is the case. In a phone conversation, she spoke about “Transparent.” Read More »

About Speakeasy

Speakeasy is a blog covering media, entertainment, celebrity and the arts. The publication is produced by Barbara Chai and Jonathan Welsh with contributions from the Wall Street Journal staff and others. Write to us at speakeasy@wsj.com or follow us on Twitter at @WSJSpeakeasy or individually @barbarachai.